Final holiday shopping weekend sees ecommerce skyrocket

Thanks to the East Coast blizzard in the US the last holiday shopping weekend turned to online opportunities, giving etailers reason to celebrate. According to a new comScore report the December 19, 2009 weekend saw 13% growth and a final shopping tally (for the week) of $4.8 billion.

Overall the holiday shopping season has seen a
">4% sales increase, reaching just over $25.5 billion. And it isn't over yet. Although the dates for buying and shipping with guaranteed delivery by Christmas have passed, many consumers are still logging on and planning to distribute gifts at later holiday gatherings or just saving gifts for next year's holidays.

"The major snowstorms hitting the eastern seaboard over the weekend appear to have given holiday e-commerce an additional boost, resulting in the heaviest online spending week on record at $4.8 billion," said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. "Consumers have clearly continued to spend online later into the season this year, with several very strong spending days in the most recent week including the heaviest online spending day in history - Tuesday, December 15 with $913 million. Retailers have been very aggressive with late season promotions while informing consumers that they could still get their purchases shipped in time for Christmas, and these tactics seem to be paying off."

Although the holiday spend is up, opening gifts isn't high on consumers' list of things to do over the holidays. According to a recent Harris Poll nearly 10% are simply looking forward to holiday dinners and parties, 4% will spend time watching television specials/listening to holiday music. About 8% reported not looking forward to the holidays at all.

Interestingly enough, consumers also find plenty to complain about over the holidays.